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Seizure‐Tracking

After 20 frustrating years trying to track his seizures on paper, Eric Schumacher decided to take a digital leap.

“I was diagnosed with complex partial seizures at 19,” says 39-year-old Eric Schumacher. “My doctor told me to track their duration, severity, and triggers. I jotted things down in a diary, but it was hard to find details when it came time to talk to him.” So Schumacher created EpiTrax, a computer program that enables people to store a wealth of information about their seizures and triggers—exercise, mood, sleep patterns, school activities, diet, and more—all in one place.

“I'm impressed with it,” says John Stern, M.D., associate professor of neurology at UCLA's Geffen School of Medicine. “Patients can gather detailed information that helps neurologists better understand their conditions, and the reports that EpiTrax produces simplify patient-doctor communication.”

In a study of seizure tracking in the journal Neurology in 2007, Sheryl Haut, M.D., director of the Adult Epilepsy Program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City reported that “a significant sub-group of those with epilepsy were able to predict their seizures.” Dr. Haut will be repeating the study with an electronic diary.

EpiTrax is available for Windows and can be downloaded at neomedsoft.com for $49.99. Five percent of every sale goes to epilepsy-related services.